Method, device, and system for audio data processing

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus that filters audio data received from a speaking person that includes a specific filter for that speaker. The audio characteristics of the speaker&#39;s voice may be collected and the specific filter may be formed to reduce noise while also enhancing voice quality. For instance, if a speaker&#39;s voice does not contain specific frequencies, then a filter may cancel the noise at such frequencies to ease noise cancellation and reduce processing sound spectrum for cleaning that is not needed. Additionally, the strength frequencies of a speaker&#39;s voice may be identified from the collected audio characteristics and those spectrums can be filtered with finer granularity to provide a speaker specific filter that enhances the voice quality of the speaker&#39;s voice data that is transmitted or output by a communication device. The audio data may also be output based upon a user&#39;s predefined hearing spectrum.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to communication systems, such ascommunication systems that utilize cellular phones, mobile computerdevices, tablets, laptops, or other terminal devices. More particularly,the present invention relates to a system, method and device configuredto edit received audio data to improve voice quality voice data that isreceived for recording or transmission.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telecommunication endpoints are often equipped with a noise reductiondevice. Such a device is typically configured to filter voice datareceived by the device to deliver a better voice content when that datais output or transmitted as outputted audio data. However, filters usedin such noise reduction mechanisms are typically general purpose filtersdesigned to process audio in a generic manner. As a result, the noisereduction may fail to provide a great improvement in voice quality orother attributes to outputted audio data.

We have determined that a new method and apparatus are needed to improveaudio characteristics of audio output that is output based upon receivedaudio data. In some embodiments of our method and apparatus, audio thatis outputted may be configured to utilize hearing and speakingparameters that are based on speaking and hearing profiles of the users'performing the speaking and performing the hearing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of transmitting voice data is provided. An embodiment of themethod may include the steps of a communication device prompting a userto speak to obtain a sample of a voice of the user to identify at leastone of time domain, frequency domain, vocal dominants, and a vocal rangeof the voice of the user, the communication device determining voicemetrics for the voice of the user based on the sample of the voice ofthe user, the communication device storing the voice metrics of thevoice of the user, the communication device receiving voice data fromthe user, the communication device modifying the received voice databased on the at least one of the voice metrics, the time domain, thefrequency domain, the vocal dominants, and the vocal range of the voiceof the user, and the communication device transmitting the modifiedvoice data to another device so that the modified voice data isoutputtable to at least one recipient.

Some embodiments of the method may include additional steps ormodifications. For instance, the method may also include the steps ofthe communication device generating tones for emitting to a user so theuser hears the tones, the communication device receiving input thatidentify volume settings at which the tones are hearable to the user,and the communication device determining a hearing profile of the userbased on the received input that identified the volume settings at whichthe tones are hearable to the user. Additionally, embodiments of themethod may include the step of the communication device adjusting avolume of audio data that is received by the communication device tooutput the audio data at a louder volume based on the hearing profile ofthe user.

In one embodiment, the method may include the steps of the communicationdevice transmitting the hearing profile of the user to anothercommunication device and the other communication device modifying audiodata based on the hearing profile of the user prior to transmitting thataudio data to the communication device. In one embodiment, the otherdevice may modify audio data prior to transmitting the audio data to theuser by having a portion of the audio data that is within an audiospectrum that the hearing profile of the user indicates is unhearable tothe user omitted from the audio data so that the transmitted audio datadoes not contain audio within the unhearable audio spectrum of the user.In other embodiments, the audio data may be modified by the othercommunication device by increasing the volume of the audio data so thatall the transmitted voice data within the transmitted audio data iswithin a hearable audio spectrum of the user.

For certain embodiments, the voice metrics of the voice of the user iscomprised of parameters that are based on the time domain for the voice,the frequency domain for the voice, the vocal dominants for the voice,and a vocal range of the voice of the user. The communication device maymodify the voice data based on at least one of the voice metrics, thetime domain, the frequency domain, the vocal dominants. The vocal rangeof the voice of the user can be comprised of the communication deviceremoving a portion of the received voice data that is within a frequencyrange that is outside of the frequency domain of the voice of the user.The communication device modifying the voice data based on at least oneof the voice metrics, the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocaldominants, and the vocal range of the voice of the user may also becomprised of the communication device applying a parameter that is basedon at least one of the voice metrics, the time domain, the frequencydomain, the vocal dominants, and the vocal range of the voice of theuser of the user's voice to noise cancellation processing of thereceived voice data.

The communication device may be any of a number of types of devices. Forinstance, the communication device may be a server, a workstation, adesktop computer, a tablet, a mobile cellular phone, an internetappliance, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a personal digitalassistant, a mobile computer device, or a communication terminal. Insome embodiments, the communication device may also be configured todetermine that received voice data is from the user.

Communication systems are also provided. Some embodiments of thecommunication system may include a communication system configured toutilize an embodiment of the above discussed methods, which are furtherdiscussed below.

A non-transitory computer readable medium is also provided. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium has an application storedthereon that defines a method that is performed by a communicationdevice when the application is executed by the communication device. Themethod may include any of the above noted embodiments of a method, whichare further discussed below. For instance, an embodiment of the methodmay include the steps of the communication device prompting a user tospeak to obtain a sample of a voice of the user to identify at least oneof time domain, frequency domain, vocal dominants, and a vocal range ofthe voice of the user, the communication device determining voicemetrics for the voice, of the user based on the sample of the voice ofthe user, the communication device storing the voice metrics of thevoice of the user and associating those saved voice metrics with theuser, the communication device receiving voice data from the user, thecommunication device modifying the received voice data based on the atleast one of the of the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocaldominants, and the vocal range of the voice of the user, and thecommunication device transmitting the modified voice data to anotherdevice.

Some embodiments of the method defined by the application of thecomputer readable medium may also include the steps of the communicationdevice generating tones for emitting to a user so the user hears thetones, the communication device receiving input that identify volumesettings at which the tones are hearable to the user, and thecommunication device determining a hearing profile of the user based onthe received input that identified the volume settings at which thetones are bearable to the user. The communication device may also adjusta volume of audio data that is received by the communication device tooutput the audio data at a louder volume based on the hearing profile ofthe user. The communication device may transmit the hearing profile ofthe user to another communication device and the other communicationdevice may modify the audio data based on the hearing profile of theuser prior to transmitting that audio data to the communication devicebased on the hearing profile of the user. In one embodiment, the otherdevice may modify audio data prior to transmitting the audio data to theuser by having a portion of the audio data that is within an audiospectrum that the hearing profile of the user indicates is unhearable tothe user omitted from the audio data so that the transmitted audio datadoes not contain audio within the unhearable audio spectrum of the user.In other embodiments, the audio data may be modified by the othercommunication device by increasing the volume of the audio data so thatall the transmitted voice data within the transmitted audio data iswithin a bearable audio spectrum of the user.

In certain embodiments of the method defined by the application, thecommunication device modifying the voice data based on the at least oneof the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocal dominants, and thevocal range of the voice of the user can include a number of steps. Forinstance, such a modification may be comprised of the communicationdevice removing a portion of the received voice data that is within afrequency range that is outside of the frequency domain of the voice ofthe user and the communication device applying a parameter that is basedon at least one of the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocaldominants, and the vocal range of the voice of the user of the user'svoice to noise cancellation processing of the received voice data.

Other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent as the following description of certain present preferredembodiments thereof and certain present preferred methods of practicingthe same proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Present preferred devices, systems, and apparatuses for providingcommunications between multiple communication devices are shown in theaccompanying drawings and certain present preferred methods ofpracticing the same are also illustrated therein. It should beunderstood that like reference numbers used in the drawings may identifylike components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a communicationdevice, which may be for example a server, a computer device, aworkstation, a tablet, a laptop computer, a telephony device, aninternet appliance, a personal digital assistant, a smart phone, acellular phone, a telephone, or other type of communication terminal. Itshould be understood that more than one microphone and more than onespeaker may be included within embodiments of the communication device(e.g. some embodiments of a communication device may include a one earspeaker and a loud speaker and may include two microphones, one forsurrounding audio detection and one for surrounding noise cancellation).

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for transmitting voicedata or audio data.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for outputting voice dataor audio data.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a communicationsystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRESENT PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a communication device may be a computer devicesuch as a server or workstation or a terminal device such as a desktopcomputer, a tablet, a mobile cellular phone, an internet appliance, alaptop computer, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a mobilecomputer device, or a communication terminal. In one embodiment of asystem, a network 24 may include the first and second communicationterminals 21, 22 that are communicatively connected via a communicationpath that is established and maintained via a computer device 25. Thenetwork 24 may be a wide area network or local area network such as anenterprise network in some embodiments of the system.

The first and second communication terminals 21 and 22 of the systemshown in FIG. 4 may each be an embodiment of the communication deviceshown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the computer device 25 shown in FIG. 4may function as a telephony type communication device or mediacommunication device such as a switch device, media server, orteleconference server that may be an embodiment of the communicationdevice shown in FIG. 1.

The communication device may include a processor unit 1 that iscommunicatively connected to a transceiver unit 3 that includes areceiver unit 3 a and a transmitter unit 3 b, a display unit 2, at leastone input device such as a microphone 6 and camera sensor 8, memory 5,and a speaker 4. The transceiver unit 3 may include a receiver unit 3 aand a transmitter unit 3 b for transmission and reception of data via acellular network, a wireless network connection, or other networkconnection or may be configured to form a wireless connection via a nearfield communication, a Bluetooth compliant communication, or other typeof wireless communication mechanism or permit a wired connection such asa wired connection made via a universal serial bus connection, forexample. In some embodiments, the communication device may includeadditional transceiver units as well.

The processor unit I may be a central processing unit such as amicroprocessor, interconnected microprocessors, or other hardwareprocessor element. The memory 5 may be a non-transitory computerreadable medium that has at least one application 7 stored thereon thatdefines a method that is performed by the communication device, such asfor example the method shown in FIG. 2 or 3. The memory 5 may include ahard drive, a flash drive, an optical disk or a hard disk or other typeof computer readable medium that can stores data for a non-transitoryperiod of time. Datasets such as a voice database 12 and hearingdatabase 13 as well as other data that may be utilized by thecommunication device when running the application 7 may also be storedin the memory 5.

The speaker 4 may include multiple speakers that emit audio and themicrophone 6 may be an input device that records audio emitted by a userfor receiving that audio data. For instance, the microphone 6 mayinclude a first microphone that detects surrounding noise and a secondmicrophone that is used for cancellation of surrounding noise and thespeaker 4 may include a first speaker for emitting noise to one humanear and a second speaker that is a loud speaker. The display unit 2 maybe a liquid crystal display or other display device. The display unit 2may be configured as an input device and an output device such as touchscreen display that functions to output data visually while alsopermitting a user to provide input by touching different portions of thedisplay. Other types of input devices such as a button, keyboard,Bluetooth headset or Bluetooth ear-set, or a mouse, may also beconnectable to the processor unit 1 so that a user may utilize thatinput device to provide input to the device.

The communication device may run an application 7 via processor unit 1.The application 7 may define a method that is executed by thecommunication device when the application is run. Examples of such amethod may be appreciated from FIGS. 2 and 3. For example, thecommunication device may run the application to create a hearing profilefor storing in a hearing database for use in transmitting or outputtingreceived audio or may generate a voice profile for use in a voicedatabase that may be used to enhance voice data received via microphone6 prior to transmitting that voice data to modify the received voicedata to improve the clarity, reduce the noise within the received voicedata, or otherwise enhance the voice data so that the transmitted voicedata has an enhanced quality.

For instance, the communication device may run the application andprompt a user to enter voice input via the microphone 6 so that voicedata can be collected of the user's voice to define a user voice profilefor saving in the voice database 12. The user's spoken voice may berecorded so that a voice profile that defines a specific filter for theuser can be prepared and saved as the user voice profile in the voicedatabase 12. Alternatively, the voice database 12 may save parametersfor sending to a filter when the user is detected as the speaker so thatany voice data recorded from that user is filtered by the filter inaccordance with the voice parameters defined in the voice database 12for that user.

The communication device may send output to the user via the displayunit 2 to prompt the user to provide certain voice data at differentvolumes or at different speeds to obtain a sample of the user's voice.The sampling of the user's voice may utilize a sampling of the differentvocals and frequencies of the user's voice. For instance, the promptingoutput to the user may ask a user to speak a certain phrase at differentoctaves (e.g. in a low voice or in a high voice) or at different speeds(e.g. slowly and quickly) to record that phrase when spoken by the userwhen meeting those conditions. The user may also be directed via audioto repeat a specific sentence in his or her preferred language that hassignificant phonemes for voice analysis. The recorded voice data issubsequently assessed to determine what frequencies a user's spokenvoice may not contain and what frequencies are a strength of the user'svoice (e.g. the frequency ranges at which the user's voice is most oftenpresent when the user speaks).

After the user's voice is assessed, the communication device maydetermine that a user's voice does not contain specific frequencies. Therange of frequencies that are not present within the user's voice maytherefore be cut out by a filter so that no sound within thosefrequencies is output or transmitted to another device when recordingthe user's voice for sending to another device such as what may be donewhen the communication device records a video via the camera sensor 8and microphone 6 or when the user is engaged in a phone call using thecommunication device. The removal of this frequency range that does notinclude the user's voice can eliminate noise that may be present duringa recording of the user's voice and may reduce the processing needed forperforming noise reduction or other voice data cleanup that may beperformed on the recorded voice data prior to saving that voice data ortransmitting that voice data.

Additionally, the frequency ranges that is a strong range for the user'svoice (e.g. a range in which the user's voice is almost always present)may be determined from the sampling of the user' voice. The filtrationof the use's voice in the frequency range that is determined to be astrength for the user's voice may be identified so that such spectrumsmay be filtered with a finer granularity.

In one embodiment, a voice profile for a user may be defined and rangedby an assessment of a recorded voice sample that is recorded upon a userspeaking words and phrases that he or she is prompted to say via thedisplay unit 2. The time domain, frequency domain, and dominants of theuser's vocals may then be assessed by the communication device analyzingthe recorded voice sample. The assessed parameters of the user's voicemay then be saved in a voice database 12 for defining the filtering ofthe user's voice for purposes of enhancing any voice data received fromthe user that is for saving in association with a video recording ortransmitting via a voice channel, media transmission, phone call, orother voice data transmission. It should be understood that theenhancement of the voice data to be transmitted may occur in parallelwith noise cancellation that may be performed by the communicationdevice. The noise cancellation and voice enhancement may occur prior tothe packetizing of the voice data that is modified via the noisecancellation and voice enhancement. The packetized modified voice datamay then be transmitted to another device.

The communication device may also prompt a user to provide input to thecommunication device in response to emitted audio that is output via atleast one speaker 4 so that a hearing profile for the user may bedetermined and stored in a hearing database 13. The hearing database 13may then be used in processing received audio data and may also beutilized in processing voice data to be output or transmitted to anotherdevice. For instance, a particular user may have a frequency spectrumthat the user is less sensible to or unable to hear any audio when thataudio falls within that frequency spectrum. Such a spectrum may beidentified in the hearing profile of the user and subsequently utilizedto modify the voice data to be output to that user or to be transmittedto a device associated with that user such as a user's telephone orcellular phone.

For example, the communication device may prompt the user to respond toa series of tones emitted at different levels of loudness via speaker 4.The input provided by the user may indicate at what volume or loudnesslevel the user is able to hear different emitted tones and may promptthe user to detect the same series of tones emitted at different levelsof loudness for each ear individually via a one ear speaker and also forboth ears together via a loud speaker. The input provided by the usermay then be utilized by the communication device to determine thehearing thresholds for each ear of the user as well as for both ears ofthe user. The hearing profile of the user may then be linked with theuser and utilized in a number of ways. Additionally, the formed hearingprofile may also be sent to other devices that may send audio data tothe communication device or other device associated with the user sothat the user's hearing profile may be utilized to modify the voice datato be sent to the user to enhance the clarity of that data to that user.

For example, the hearing profile may be stored in the memory 5 of thecommunication device by being within a hearing database 13. Thecommunication device may then adjust the loudness of received voice dataso that voice data or other audio data that is not within a frequency towhich the user may hear is modified so that the voice data that isoutput is hearable by the user. The hearing profile may be applied to areal-time transport protocol (“RTP”) decoder or other audio equalizerthrough the audio path to provide such an adjustment, for example. Thehearing profile within the user's own communication device may thereforeadjust the volume setting at which received data is to be emitted sothat it improves the clarity of that data to the user.

As another example, the hearing profile may be gent to anothercommunication device so that audio data that is transmitted to theuser's communication device may be modified by the device transmittingthat data to the user to account for the user's specific hearingcapabilities via the user's hearing profile. For instance, thetransmitting communication device that receives the user's hearingprofile may enhance its noise reduction to voice data to be transmittedto the communication device associated with the user based on the user'shearing profile. The voice data to be transmitted may be modified sothat the voice data is within the spectrum of the user's hearing profileto improve the clarity of the transmitted data to the user. Thetransmitting device may also, or alternatively, modify the audio data tobe transmitted to the user's communication device to avoid, omit, orotherwise nullify audio within the spectrum where the user has nosensibility at all or is near deaf within that spectrum so thatbandwidth and processing power associated with the transmission andreceipt of that portion of the audio data may be saved.

The communication device of the user may send the user's hearing profileor hearing database 13 of the communication device to a transmittingdevice so that it can be saved by that other device for future calls orother transmissions of audio data. The other device may associate theuser's hearing profile with an address of the user's communicationdevice such as a phone number or internet protocol address of thatdevice so that any communication utilizing that address may result inthe use of the user's hearing profile to modify voice data or otheraudio data to be transmitted to that user's communication device. Thetransmitting device may save that profile for use in futurecommunication sessions as well based upon an association of a deviceaddress such as a phone number associated with the user and a call beingestablished with a device having that address. The hearing profile ofthe user may also be associated with other devices to which the user isassociated such as a voice mailbox or email address so that audio datatransmitted to these other devices or addresses are modified to improvethe clarity of the audio data to the user to which the information isaddressed.

In some embodiments of the communication device, the user may enterinput during a call or other communication session to actuate a sendingof a message to another device engaged in that communication session.That input that is entered may indicate to a call partner that the userdoes not want a hearing profile associated with that user to be appliedduring a particular session or during any future call or futurecommunication session. Such input may actuate a message to deactivateuse of a hearing profile by another device to be sent to this deviceduring an ongoing call or other communication session or may betransmitted. Such a message may alternatively be sent after or before aparticular communication session. Such a message may be sent upon a usercreating a new hearing profile or voice profile for example. Such amessage may be sent along with a replacement hearing profile or voiceprofile for saving by the other device for use in subsequentcommunication sessions.

It should be understood that the modification of voice data or otheraudio data to improve the clarity of that data to a particular user whenthat data is output to the user may result in skewing the, audio data toplace that data in a part of a spectrum that is more sensible to thatuser. Such a skewing may result in the speaker's voice characteristicbeing changed. But, this may also result in improving the clarity of thecommunication to the user so that more data is actually heard by theuser and understood by the user during a communication session such as atelephone call or conference call.

It should be appreciated that a first communication terminal 21 andsecond communication terminal 22 may each have a voice database andhearing. database for use during a telephone call between the twodevices. Each communication terminal may modify voice data of the userspeaking into a microphone of that terminal so that the transmittedvoice data is modified to improve its clarity to the user of thereceiving terminal. In one contemplated alternative embodiment, a switchdevice such as a computer device 25 that is within the transmission pathof the two terminals during the communication session may have thehearing and voice databases and modify the audio data to be transmittedto a particular user based upon the hearing profile of the user toreceive an output of the audio data and the voice profile of the speakerthat is transmitting that audio data to the receiving party.

In some embodiments of the communication device, more than one user mayutilize that device. Different users may create different hearingprofiles and different voice profiles. For instance, each use mayutilize the communication device to have a hearing profile and voiceprofile created, saved and transmitted as discussed above. The formedprofiles of the users may be saved in the memory of the same device andbe linked with a user identification to distinguish the different users.Each user may then identify themselves in any of a number of ways. Forinstance, each use may enter a unique log-on identification or code thatidentifies that user as the one that is currently using the device. Thelog-on identification may include entering a personal identificationnumber or pressing certain portions of a touch screen display of thecommunication device in a predefined sequence of touches to enter theuser's reference number or identification code. Upon detection of suchan entered user identification, the communication device may thenutilize the profiles within the voice and hearing databases for theidentified user. As another option, a user may select a specific profilefor user by entering input via an input device to select the userspecific profiles. In some embodiments, a communication device may bydefault associate a user's hearing and voice profiles with the useridentified via an entered identification. A user may then provide inputto deactivate such a setting or alter the settings.

While certain present preferred embodiments of the communication device,communication system, and methods of making and using the same have beenshown and described above, it is to be distinctly understood that theinvention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodiedand practiced within the scope of the following claims.

1-15. (canceled)
 16. A method of transmitting voice data comprising: acommunication device prompting a user to speak to obtain a sample of avoice of the user to identify at least one of time domain of the voiceof the user, a frequency domain of the voice of the user, vocaldominants of the voice of the user, and/or a vocal range of the voice ofthe user, the communication device comprising a processor connected to anon-transitory computer readable medium; the communication devicedetermining voice metrics for the voice of the user based on the sampleof the voice of the user, the voice metrics comprising informationidentifying frequencies that are not within the voice of the user; thecommunication device storing the voice metrics of the voice of the user;the communication device receiving voice data from the user; thecommunication device modifying the received voice data based on thevoice metrics to filter the received voice data to enhance the receivedvoice data in a frequency range that is determined to be a strength forthe voice of the user; and the communication device transmitting themodified voice data to another device so that the modified voice data isoutputtable to at least one recipient; the communication devicegenerating tones for emitting to a user so the user hears the tones; thecommunication device receiving input that identify volume settings atwhich the tones are hearable to the user; the communication devicedetermining a hearing profile of the user based on the received inputthat identified the volume settings at which the tones are hearable tothe user; the communication device transmitting the hearing profile ofthe user to another communication device for modification of audio dataof another user based on the hearing profile of the user transmitted bythe communication device prior to transmitting that audio data to thecommunication device.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising: thecommunication device adjusting a volume of audio data that is receivedby the communication device to output the audio data at a louder volumebased on the hearing profile of the user.
 18. The method of claim 16further comprising: the other communication device modifying the audiodata based on the hearing profile of the user prior to transmitting thataudio data to the communication device.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein the other communication device modifying the audio data based onthe hearing profile of the user prior to transmitting that audio data tothe communication device comprises: omitting a portion of the audio datathat is within an audio spectrum identified as being unhearable to auser via the hearing profile of the user so that the transmitted audiodata does not include that portion of the audio data.
 20. The method ofclaim 16 wherein the communication device modifying the received voicedata based on the voice metrics is comprised of the communication deviceremoving a portion of the received voice data that is within a frequencyrange that is outside of the frequency domain of the voice of the user.21. The method of claim 19 wherein the communication device modifyingthe received voice data based on the voice metrics occurs such that thevoice data is modified based on the time domain, the frequency domain,the vocal dominants, and the vocal range of the voice of the user sothat the range of the frequencies that are not within the voice of theuser are cut out of the received voice data to form the modified voicedata so that the modified voice data does not contain the data for thenoise within the frequencies that are not within the voice of the user.22. The method of claim 16 wherein the communication device is one of aserver, a workstation, a desktop computer, a tablet, a mobile cellularphone, an internet appliance, a laptop computer, a smart phone, apersonal digital assistant, a mobile computer device, or a communicationterminal.
 23. The method of claim 22, comprising: the communicationdevice outputting audio via a speaker of the communication device basedon the modified audio data received from the other communication device.24. A non-transitory computer readable medium having an applicationstored thereon that defines a method that is performed by acommunication device when the application is executed by thecommunication device, the method comprising: a communication deviceprompting a user to speak to obtain a sample of a voice of the user toidentify at least one of time domain, frequency domain, vocal dominants,and/or a vocal range of the voice of the user; the communication devicedetermining voice metrics for the voice of the user based on the sampleof the voice of the user, the voice metrics comprising informationidentifying frequencies that are not within the voice of the user; thecommunication device storing the voice metrics of the voice of the user;the communication device receiving voice data from the user; thecommunication device modifying the received voice data based on thevoice metrics to filter the received voice data to enhance the receivedvoice data in a frequency range that is determined to be a strength forthe voice of the user; and the communication device transmitting themodified voice data to another device so that the modified voice data isoutputtable to at least one recipient; the communication devicegenerating tones for emitting to a user so the user hears the tones; thecommunication device receiving input that identify volume settings atwhich the tones are hearable to the user; the communication devicedetermining a hearing profile of the user based on the received inputthat identified the volume settings at which the tones are hearable tothe user.
 25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein themethod further comprising: the communication device adjusting a volumeof audio data that is received by the communication device to output theaudio data at a louder volume based on the hearing profile of the user.26. The computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein the communicationdevice is a first communication device and method further comprising:the first communication device transmitting the hearing profile of theuser to a second communication device such that the the secondcommunication device modifies audio data based on the hearing profile ofthe user prior to transmitting that modified audio data to the firstcommunication device such that the modified audio data that istransmitted to the first communication device omits any portion of theaudio data that is within a first audio spectrum, the first audiospectrum being an audio spectrum identified by the hearing profile ofthe user as being unhearable audio to the user.
 27. The computerreadable medium of claim 24 wherein the communication device modifyingthe voice data based on the voice metrics comprises modifying the voicedata based on the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocaldominants, and the vocal range of the voice of the user so that therange of the frequencies that are not within the voice of the user arecut out of the received voice data to form the modified voice data sothat the modified voice data does not contain the data for the noisewithin the frequencies that are not within the voice of the user iscomprised of the communication device removing a portion of the receivedvoice data that is within a frequency range that is outside of thefrequency domain of the voice of the user.
 28. The computer readablemedium of claim 24 wherein the communication device modifying the voicedata based on the voice metrics comprises the communication devicefiltering the received voice data for enhancing the received voice datain a frequency range that is determined to be a strength for the voiceof the user to form the modified voice data.
 29. A communicationapparatus comprising: a communication device configured to prompt a userto speak to obtain a sample of a voice of the user to identify at leastone of time domain, frequency domain, vocal dominants, and a vocal rangeof the voice of the user; the communication device configured todetermine voice metrics for the voice of the user based on the sample ofthe voice of the user, the voice metrics comprising informationidentifying frequencies that are not within the voice of the user; thecommunication device configured to store the voice metrics of the voiceof the user in a non-transitory computer readable medium; thecommunication device configured to receive voice data from the user; thecommunication device configured to modify the received voice data basedon the voice metrics, the time domain, the frequency domain, the vocaldominants, and/or the vocal range of the voice of the user so that arange of the frequencies that are not within the voice of the user arecut out of the received voice data to form modified voice data so thatthe modified voice data does not contain data for noise within thefrequencies that are not within the voice of the user; and thecommunication device configured to transmit the modified voice data sothat the modified voice data is outputtable to at least one recipient;the communication device configured to generate tones for emitting to auser so the user hears the tones; the communication device configured toreceive input that identify volume settings at which the tones arehearable to the user; the communication device configured to determine ahearing profile of the user based on the received input that identifiedthe volume settings at which the tones are hearable to the user; thecommunication device configured to transmit the hearing profile of theuser to another communication device such that the other communicationdevice modifies audio data of another user based on the hearing profileof the user transmitted by the communication device prior totransmitting that audio data to the communication device.
 30. Thecommunication apparatus of claim 29 wherein the communication devicecomprises hardware, the hardware comprising a processor and atransceiver unit, and wherein at least one of a display device, amicrophone, and a camera sensor is connected to the communicationdevice.
 31. The communication apparatus of claim 29 wherein thecommunication device comprises hardware, the hardware comprising aprocessor, a transceiver unit, a display device, a microphone, and acamera sensor.
 32. The communication apparatus of claim 29 comprising: afirst communication terminal and a second communication terminal, thecommunication device being communicatively connected to the firstcommunication terminal and the second communication terminal such thatthe modified voice data is transmittable to at least one of the firstcommunication terminal and the second communication terminal for outputof the modified voice data; and wherein the communication device isconfigured to modify the voice data based on the time domain, thefrequency domain, the vocal dominants, and/or the vocal range of thevoice of the user so that a range of the frequencies that are not withinthe voice of the user are cut out of the received voice data to formmodified voice data so that the range of the frequencies that are notwithin the voice of the user are cut out of the received voice data toform the modified voice data so that the modified voice data does notcontain the data for the noise within the frequencies that are notwithin the voice of the user and filter the received voice data forenhancing the received voice data in a frequency range that isdetermined to be a strength for the voice of the user to form themodified voice data.
 33. The communication apparatus of claim 32 whereinthe user is a user of the first communication terminal and the recipientis a user of the second communication terminal.
 34. The communicationsystem of claim 33 wherein the communication device is configured totransmit the modified voice data to the second communication terminal sothat the modified voice data is outputtable to the recipient via thesecond communication terminal.